Members of the Metro State community will gather Feb.11-12 to work on constructing a new house for a family in need. The project, undertaken with Habitat for Humanity of Denver, will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 14701 East 18th Place (18th & Eagle) in Aurora. Faculty, students and staff are invited to come and work.

At the construction site, volunteers will receive an orientation during which they are shown what tasks need to be accomplished. Tasks can include anything from framing to cleaning up, and the work is broken down into small, manageable tasks. Construction experience is not necessary, but a willingness to learn is. Habitat construction supervisors teach volunteers what they need to do.

Habitat for Humanity of Denver was established in 1979 and has built 238 homes throughout the Denver metro area. The Habitat program puts volunteers and homeowner candidates together to build decent, affordable homes.

Families apply and are selected based on their ability to repay an interest-free loan, their level of need and their willingness to become a partner in the organization. Once approved, families must volunteer 300 to 500 hours of "sweat equity" labor on Habitat homes, make a $1,200 deposit for closing costs on their home and make monthly mortgage payments based on 25 percent of the family's income.

For more information about the work weekend in February go to http://www.mscd.edu/~mdl/habitatinfo.htm. If you would like to volunteer, contact Lawrence Glatz, associate professor of German, at glatz@mscd.edu. To join a group e-mail list about Metro's Habitat for Humanity projects, go to MetroConnect, click on Groups at the top right of the page, and go to the index. Habitat is under Cultural/Arts.